I want to punch Wally World in the face

.. If the Walmarts around here had faces, and if I wouldn't severely injure my hand... I would punch them. Hard.

Story time!

OK, so recently I had to change my pharmacy from Walgreens to Walmart because of insurance issues. A few days ago, I was finally getting low on humalog, so I filled out my prescription.

The conversation was pretty usual:

"Hello, I would like to fill out my prescription for humalog"

"ok, do you want to get lantus today also?"

"no thanks, I only need humalog right now."

"Ok, we'll call you when its ready"

30 minutes go by, I buy my insulin, and go home.

The next day, I woke up at 5am. I get myself a nice, big bowl of cereal, and I went to the fridge to open my new insulin. I opened the package to discover a brand new box of... LANTUS!

In a panic, I scoured the house hoping I can find a pen with some insulin left in it, but with no luck. 6am rolls around, and I was going to be late for work, so I gave up and left. There was no point in calling in late because Walmart's pharmacy doesn't open till 9am anyway.

Looking back, that was a horrible idea. Not only did I feel bad from the high bloodsugar, I also felt bad because I was PO'd and scared that I couldn't do anything. The only thing I could really do about it was complain... and I did a lot of that.

Break time comes around, and I couldn't eat anything. My manager sees me sitting alone at a table. She then had to ask the ONE question to make me go OFF. "You don't look so good, why don't you eat something?"

I got so loud that the district manager came in from the back office to see what was going on (whoops, didn't know she was there!) She got me to calm down and I explained my situation to her. She got me walmart's number and I called them to tell them what happened. They seemed less than sympathetic, pretty much blaming me for not knowing the difference in my insulins!

I told them that I was on the other side of town, so I needed to pick up my correct insulin at the closer store. They were glad to transfer my prescription... but I still had to wait 45 minutes and pay $30 for it. I checked my bloodsugar for the first time since I woke up, (since I could't do anything to correct it, there really wasn't a point in checking and scaring myself even more) and I'm at 353... lovely

I drive down to Wally world and pick up my humalog. I then realized that I never grabbed any of my pen needles and I was a good 30 minutes from home. I told the poor cashier that I needed a pen needle and I asked for one of the sample packs they give out because my bloodsugar was very high. (I know they had them because they gave me some last time I bought needles... 4 days ago) The cashier asked the pharmacist if I could have a pack. and to make my day just THAT much worse... he said no, If I needed needles as badly as I made it sound then I should just buy another box. I reluctantly pay the $9 for another box of needles (which I didn't need)

I stormed out, corrected my bloodsugar in the car, and drove back to mcdonalds. After I told the district manager what happened, she told me that I should file a complaint and possibly get my $39 back

Even if I don't file a complaint, i am going to transfer my prescription elsewhere.

AGH!!!

Bad news: Your pharmacy experience sucked.

Good news: Your managers seem pretty supportive.

Yuck!!! I have to change pharmacies too because my insurance is no longer accepted at Walgreens. I use express scripts (mail order) for my D stuff though, and so far (4 yrs) so good. I'm not looking forward to needing to fill a script - the closest pharmacy to me is at a grocery store. Walgreens is 1/2 mile *sigh*

Thank God for Rite Aid. They know me so well at this point, they do things like drive across town to another Rite Aid when they don't happen to have what Eric needs on hand. I can state with confidence the pharmacists there (most of whom I know by name) would NEVER make a mistake like that.

So sorry you had to go through this. I feel your pain...same thing happened to me about 10 years ago except the pharmacy was Walgreens and I realized the error when I got home and opened the bag. I brought it back and read them the riot act. I was SO angry.

This really opened my eyes about double-checking prescriptions and ever since then I check immediately. I also ask the pharmacist if a pill I'm used to taking looks different in appearance.

Had a similar problem with RiteAid years ago, but with a twist. I took a Humnalog Pen scrip and got it filled. Next day I go on a car trip to find out it was NPH they gave me. Happily I'd xeroxed the scrip and saved the receipt for tax purposes. More happily I happened to notice on the pen just as I stuck it in my leg and didn't do the delivery. Almost doubled up on NPH which would have given me a quick mega-high followed hours later by an equally ugly mega-low.

When I got back I filed a formal complaint with the state board of pharmacy resulting in a 14 day suspension and formal letter of reprimand.

I agree with Jean here... you deal with your boss a lot more often than you deal with your pharmacist. And it sounds like your employer gets it, and they care.

I always order by prescriptions by Rx number, not by name. I figure it's safer that way.

And thats why I check the bag every time too. I had that mistake happen when I was younger. Nothing better than to be on a camping trip half way across the state to find out you got the wrong meds, We had to drive all the way back and lose a day... Needless to say but I was not a happy camper that day...